Ruare Stacke
Ruare Stacke was the third king of a united Eris. His rise to power was unique. Born the son of a relatively obscure minor lord under the Sarcrusian Kingdom, he would rise to become the ruler of one of the most powerful kingdoms in the world. Background Ruare's grandfather, Gregaure Stacke was a minor lord under the Round Kingdom who governed the eastern half of what was to become Royal Isle and was then known simply as lakeisle and a decent swathe of land along the eastern lakeshore. His son was the young enough Jonaus Stacke. The Sarcrusian invasion of the Round Kingdom was so swift that Southceil, the capital, fell before the lords of the kingdom had even finished gathering their armies. The King and Royal family was extinguished and most of the minor lords gave in. Gregaure condemned Tharwoods continuation to fight as ignorant and bloody pointless. Sure enough the Thar Rising was crushed and the Black Fleet of Querl crushed in the process. After the conquest of Querl, Gregaure threw his full support behind this foreign king and pushed his 16-year-old son to infiltrate the Sarcrusian administration. Exactly this was done as the Second Legion was raised from men of the conquered lands of Birktown, Round Island and Querl. Jonaus went with seventy men from his lands to join the legion and became a minor officer. He fought during the short lived Grand Duchies guerilla campaign after its conquest by the Sarcrusian and Summron alliance. Fought actually means fought in this instance. Jonaus was merely a decurion, a squad leader and was on foot. With sword and spear, though admittedly superior sword and armour, he fought up close with the enemy. By the time the Karstic Empire Campaign came around, Jonaus had managed to change regiment. The lack of cavalry of the Sarcrusian forces had really shone through during the campaign in the Grand Duchy, the inability to drive fleeing enemies from the field and capture or kill them being a main concern. Jonaus became the captain of a twenty-man cavalry squad, which he led during the Karstic campaign but did not see action at the battles of Dunmoughlin or Karstus. By this time he had advanced to lead 50 cavalry. Crushing rebels and minor lords in the karstlands was a mainly cavalry-led affair and he managed to advance to lead 200 men during it. The Vale Campaign began and he was in the force attacking from the northern pass. Here he saw the hardest fighting, against elite Valian Cavalry. He kept on throughout the Northern, Oakyieldian and Dalian and Hiltian Campaigns, eventually commanding 2,750 cavalry and earning a place on Aenan's Council of Commanders. Aenan took notice of him, especially his organisational skills in drilling etc. They talked at length about Royal Isle where Jonaus had lived a lot of his life, and the Kingskeep being built there. Jonaus managed to find himself a place on the administration council at the capital keep. For many years he performed genius political manoeuvers and came out as the top non-Brynlon advisor of both Aenan and Daeneon's Supreme Councils. Jonaus had two sons, Ruare and Aure relatively late in his life. When King Daeneon set off with his Grand Army to conquer the southern lands of the peaceful barbarians, he left Jonaus as Lord Steward of the Kingdom. 8 months into the campaign, Lord Jonaus was assassinated, quite possibly by a Hiltian agent due to his power mongering. He left his 17-year-old son Ruare as Lord Steward of the Kingdom. Rise Ruare was left with a force of a thousand men and a kingdom suspect of him and vying for his position. He made great use of diplomacy, forging private treaties with the Northern Province at the risk of pitting the Far North against them, the Riverlands at the risk of Oakyield, some of the Seven Lords and with the Summerlands. His biggest support was the Lord of Summer who desperately wanted to keep his thinlands dominions and had the most to gain from the status quo. In a characteristically shrewd move he changed the annual Oath of Allegiance's wording from swearing allegiance to the king to swearing allegiance to the throne. He built up his army vastly, raising a royal army of 5,000, a personal army of 2,500 and an Imperial Army 'to keep custody of the great Imperial Bridge' of 1,000. He also stockpiled weapons and drilled them relentlessly. His objectives were uncertain, did he mean to attempt to rise to premiership regardless of Daeneon's fate in the south? Either way, Daeneon Sarcrus died in the southern lands along with each and every Sarcrusian who had came over from Brynlos and nearly two hundred thousand men. The lands went into mourning at this loss, every family great and small lost someone to the failed campaign and many had committed or been forced to commit nearly all of their professional armies to the invasion. There was a time without a King, a two-month period of uncertainty where no one was certain if the King was dead. Ruare wrote to the Lord Cartus of the time, saying 'we must assume and act as if the king is death. His defeat is a certainty and even should he return his abdication may be in order. If he is dead the throne naturally passes to the Steward of the Kingdom, my own blessed self. I mean to act upon this when we have confirmation of the extinguishment of the line. For the unification of the realm and the keeping of the peace, I feel I must act like this. Therefore, at 18 years of age, Ruare Stacke was crowned the King of All Eris in the Grand High Temple of All Gods on Royal Isle. Throughout the two months Ruare had raised the Royal army to 8,000 men and his personal force to 4,000. At reports of unrest in Hiltiton and feelings of rebellion, Ruare deployed two thousand troops to the streets of the Hiltian capital to keep the peace. In reality the troops were there to force the Hiltceon to keep the peace. He also deployed other troops around the nation to give a presence and to make the name of Ruare known in all corners of the land. Rebellion of the Two Lords The Rebellion of the Two Lords was sudden and vicious. Round Island in the most part rose against the Stackes, perhaps remembering them as the petty lords they were. The Lord Gauil of Southceil and Thoran of Tharwood rose against the Throne as well as nearly all of the Thinlands. The Lords' rebellion is detailed in its link above but was an extremely close war with a Ruarian victory by no means an inevitability. Royal Isle itself was landed on but effectively defended. Only severe diplomatic manoeuvering saved the rest of the kingdom from a rising. Aftermath and Securement During the war, many levies and militias were raised to the Royal Cause. After the war, these men were retained and trained into regulars. This huge military power left him the unopposed ruler of all Eris. His raising fo the Royal Navy Category:Eris